Radio History: November 24

➦In 1890... French inventor Edouard Branly coined the term "radioconductor"; the first use of the word "radio".

Experiments with tubes of metal filings, as reported in "Il Nuovo Cimento" in 1884, led to the development of the first radio wave detector, the coherer, by Branly some years later. It was the first widely used detector for radio communication. This consisted of iron filings contained in an insulating tube with two electrodes that will conduct an electric current under the action of an applied electrical signal. The operation of the coherer is based upon the large electrical contact resistance offered to the passage of electric current by loose metal filings, which decreases when direct current or alternating current is applied between the terminals of the coherer at a predetermined voltage. The mechanism is based on the thin layers of oxide covering all the filings, which is highly resistive. The oxide layers are broken down when a voltage is applied of the right magnitude, causing the coherer to "latch" into its low-resistance state until the voltage is removed and the coherer is physically tapped.

The coherer became the basis for radio reception, and remained in widespread use for about ten years, until about 1907. British radio pioneer Oliver Lodge made the coherer into a practical receiver by adding a "decoherer" which tapped the coherer after each reception to dislodge clumped filings, thus restoring the device's sensitivity. It was further developed by Guglielmo Marconi, then replaced about 1907 by crystal detectors.

Irene Wicker

➦In 1905...Ireene Wicker born (Died at age 81  – November 17, 1987). She was best known to young radio listeners in the 1930s and 1940s as “The Singing Lady”, which was the title of her radio program. She added the second 'e' in her first name on the advice of an astrologer.

Her radio show was first sponsored by the Kellogg Company, beginning in 1931. Her show was promoted as America’s first radio network program for children. Despite the title of her show, The Singing Lady, most of it involved Wicker telling adaptations of stories for children, ranging from fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen through to Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. Also in the 1930s and early 1940s, she portrayed Jane Lee on the serial Judy and Jane on NBC-Blue.

In the 1940s, Wicker was a regular on Deadline Drama on NBC and the Blue Network. In the 1950s, she told stories on Big Jon and Sparkie on ABC radio.

Wicker came to television at WJZ-TV in 1949 with The Ireene Wicker Show in which she told fairy tales. She also had a program, The Singing Lady, on ABC-TV (1948-1950).

➦In 1906...Actor Don MacLaughlin was born in Webster, Iowa.  MacLaughlin originated the role of lawyer Chris Hughes on As the World Turns in 1956, and played the role until his death in 1986.

Prior to TV, MacLaughlin was active on radio, beginning in 1933. He starred as the title character on radio's David Harding, Counterspy in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, he joined the cast of The Romance of Helen Trent, in the role of Dwight Swanson, "a rancher who becomes interested in Helen Trent."

Howard Duff

He died at age 79 on May 28 1986.

➦In 1913...Radio-TV-Film actor Howard Duff was born in Bremerton, WA.

Duff's most memorable radio role was as Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade in The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946–50).With his TV and film career starting to take hold, he ultimately left the program in 1950 at the start of its final season; Stephen Dunne took over the voice role of Spade.

He died following a heart attack July 8, 1990 at age 76.

Early WTAW - undated

➦In 1920...The first radio play-by-play broadcast of a football game was aired by Texas A&M University station 5XB, later known as WTAW in College Station, Texas. The University of Texas defeated Texas A&M, 7-3.  The call letters stood for Watch The Aggies Win.  Today, the calls are used by a locally-owned station at 1620 AM.

➦In 1926...WLAC Nashville signed-on. The call letters were chosen to contain an acronym for the first owner of the station, the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee. Studios were located on the fifth floor of the Life and Casualty building in downtown Nashville. In 1928, it became Nashville's CBS Radio affiliate, while its main competitor, 650 WSM, was affiliated with NBC, the other major Radio network in the early days of broadcasting.

The early years of the station featured, as most big-city stations of that time, network programming, local news, studio-orchestra musical features (accompanied by an in-studio pipe organ), farm reports, and some educational programming. Its main competitor in that era, WSM, became known as the radio station where country music essentially developed and became a national phenomenon. When country music became a big business in the late 1940s, WLAC added early-morning and Saturday-afternoon shows in an attempt to steal some of WSM's thunder. Otherwise, the station prided itself as a pillar of the community and placed emphasis on general full-service programs.

➦In 1926...KVI-AM, Seattle, Washington began broadcasting.

Happy Thanksgiving 2023

Thanksgiving Day, annual national holiday in the United States celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people, according to britannica.com. The American holiday is particularly rich in legend and symbolism, and the traditional fare of the Thanksgiving meal typically includes turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. With respect to vehicular travel, the holiday is often the busiest of the year, as family members gather with one another. 

Thanksgiving Day did not become an official holiday until Northerners dominated the federal government. While sectional tensions prevailed in the mid-19th century, the editor of the popular magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, campaigned for a national Thanksgiving Day to promote unity. She finally won the support of President Abraham Lincoln. On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.

The holiday was annually proclaimed by every president thereafter, and the date chosen, with few exceptions, was the last Thursday in November. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, attempted to extend the Christmas shopping season, which generally begins with the Thanksgiving holiday, and to boost the economy by moving the date back a week, to the third week in November. But not all states complied, and, after a joint resolution of Congress in 1941, Roosevelt issued a proclamation in 1942 designating the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving TV At Its Best From WKRP

Plenty of beloved TV comedies have great Thanksgiving episodes. The episode of Cheers that devolves into a food fight is an all-timer. Multiple Thanksgiving episodes of Friends are now considered holiday classics. The Simpsons’ “Bart vs. Thanksgiving” is as much of a must-watch every year, at least for me, as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. More recent sitcoms — like The Office, Bob’s Burgers, Veep, Black-ish, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — have delivered great hat tips to Turkey Day, too.

But, according to vulture.com, the most quintessential, uproarious Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom remains “Turkeys Away,” the WKRP in Cincinnati masterpiece of bird-dropping pandemonium that first aired in 1978. Four decades later, at least among those of a certain age or those possessing a certain amount of Thanksgiving pop-culture knowledge, it remains a touchstone. That’s partly because the jokes still hold up and partly because it ends with a perfectly quotable mic drop of a last line, spoken by the late Gordon Jump as clueless radio station manager Arthur Carlson: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

For those who have not seen it, “Turkeys Away” starts off with a straightforward plot that careens abruptly into dark comedy. Mr. Carlson, who runs the station owned by his wealthy, domineering mother, decides he needs to get more involved in day-to-day operations and comes up with an idea for a publicity stunt that will shine more attention on WKRP, which has recently changed formats from easy listening to rock. But he keeps the details of his plan a secret from his employees, with the exception of Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), the skeezy ad-sales guy who becomes his right-hand man in this Thanksgiving fiasco. As his taste in leisure suits attests, Herb’s judgment is no better than Carlson’s.

In the episode’s second act, as WKRP newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) broadcasts live from the Pinedale Mall, what Mr. Carlson has done becomes clear, in real time, to Les, his colleagues back at the station, and everyone watching WKRP in Cincinnati: Mr. Carlson has chosen to drop 20 live turkeys from a helicopter with a “Happy Thanksgiving from WKRP” banner attached to it, above a busy shopping center parking lot. This … does not go well.

Feeling left out by all the recent changes, Mr. Carlson decides to launch his own Thanksgiving promotion. With the aid of Herb and Les, the Big Guy turns a routine turkey give-away into a comic catastrophe.

Radio History: November 23

➦In 1887...Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt in London.

In a 50 year acting career highlighted by four Frankenstein films, he found time to make an impact in horror radio & TV productions.  He is still heard today as the narrator of the annual TV cartoon favorite, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

He died at age 81 Feb 2, 1969 from emphysema.

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television.

➦In 1889…In San Francisco, the Palais Royal Hotel installed the first coin-operated machine that, by about 1940, was known as a "jukebox." Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a a disorderly house, or house of ill repute.  The unit contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!

John Dehner

➦In 1915...actor John Dehner was born in Staten Island NY.  After starting as a Disney animator & radio deejay, he started playing heavies in films & on radio shows such as Gunsmoke, Suspense, Escape and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar.  He starred in The Hermit’s Cave and Frontier Gentleman on radio, and was Palladin in CBS Radio’s Have Gun Will Travel.  TV series credits include Young Maverick, How the West was Won, Temperatures Rising, the Doris Day Show & the Don Knotts Show.  He died of emphysema & diabetes Feb 4 1992 at age 76.

➦In 1938…Bob Hope recorded his future theme song with actress Shirley Ross.  "Thanks For The Memory," debuted during the movie  "The Big Broadcast of 1938." And in 1996,  Hope set a record for the longest continuous contract in the history of Radio-TV when his last TV special aired. Hope had been with NBC for 60 years.

Hope's career in broadcasting began on radio in 1934. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour in 1937, on a 26-week contract. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, and Hope signed a ten-year contract with the show's sponsor, Lever Brothers. He hired eight writers and paid them out of his salary of $2,500 a week. The original staff included Mel Shavelson, Norman Panama, Jack Rose, Sherwood Schwartz, and Schwartz's brother Al. The writing staff eventually grew to fifteen.

The show became the top radio program in the country. Regulars on the series included Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague. Hope continued his lucrative career in radio into the 1950s, when radio's popularity began being overshadowed by the upstart television medium.

His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, with host Tony Danza helping him present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to Hope, a frequent White House visitor over the years. Following a brief appearance at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1997, Hope made his last TV appearance in a 1997 commercial.

Hope died July 27, 2003 at the age of 100.

➦In 1959…Alan Freed was dismissed from his daily WNEW-TV show, "The Big Beat," over allegations that he accepted money to play certain records. Freed denied any wrongdoing.

➦In 1962…The Beatles did a ten-minute audition for BBC Television at St. James' Church Hall in London. But the “Beeb” did not like them. Brian Epstein received a rejection letter. They eventually made it on the BBC in 1963.

➦In 1964…The BBC banned  The Rolling Stones after arriving late arriving for two BBC radio shows.  The BBC cited the group for their "unprofessionalism."

➦In 1967…San Francisco radio personality Tom Donahue, inventor of "classic rock" and "deep cut" radio, told Rolling Stone magazine, "Top Forty radio, as we know it today and have known it for the last ten years, is dead, and its rotting corpse is stinking up the airwaves."

➦In 1982...The FCC dropped its controls on duration & frequency of TV ads in the US.

➦In 1992...country music legend Roy Acuff died of heart failure at age 89. Considered the most influential figure in the history of country music, Acuff rose to fame in the 1930’s when radio was more important than records, so his chart hits were relatively few. But he made country standards of songs like “The Wabash Cannonball,” “The Great Speckle Bird,” “Fireball Mail” and “Night Train to Memphis.”

BMI Sells Out to Investment Firm

BMI is being sold to a New Mountain Capital-led shareholder group in a deal that is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the buyer announced that as part of the deal BMI’s current shareholders will allocate $100 million of the sale’s proceeds to songwriters and publishers affiliates “in recognition of [their] creativity.” That planned payout will adhere to BMI’s distribution methodologies.

Billboard reports the deal still needs to be approved by the broadcaster shareholders that have long owned the performance rights organization and will also need regulatory approval.

Initially, sources said that the bidding process for BMI had yielded about a $1.7 billion valuation, but sources subsequently said the price tag was more in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion. Neither New Mountain or BMI would comment on price.

After the deal closes, BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill and his leadership team will continue to run the organization, according to an announcement.

“Today marks an exciting new chapter for BMI that puts us in the best possible position to stay ahead of the evolving industry and ensure the long-term success of our music creators,” O’Neill said in a statement. “New Mountain is an ideal partner because they believe in our mission and understand that the key to success for our company lies in delivering value to our affiliates.”

TV Ratings: ABC's World News Tonight Sets The Pace

With Nielsen live plus same day data for last week officially in, the big three cable news networks–Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN–all shed viewers from the prior week.  Nevertheless, Fox News retains its usual position as the top-rated cable news network in total viewers and among Adults 25-54, according to TV Newser.

In total day viewing, FNC averaged 1.23 million total viewers, No. 1 on all of basic cable, and 149,000 A25-54 viewers, No. 2 on all of basic cable behind ESPN (401,000). The 1.23 million and 149,000 are -3% and -4%, respectively, from what Fox averaged in those measurements the week prior (which was highlighted by coverage of special elections in several states and of the NBC News GOP debate).

In primetime, Fox News averaged nearly 1.84 million total viewers for the week, No. 2 on basic cable, and 213,000 A25-54 viewers, No. 6 on basic cable. The network’s 1.84 million total primetime viewer average for the week is -2% from what the network averaged the previous week, while its 213,000 A25-54 average in primetime is -7% from the week prior.

Changing channels, MSNBC averaged more than 1.24 million total primetime viewers for the week of Nov. 13, No. 4 on all of basic cable (behind FNC, ESPN and Hallmark), and -8% from the week prior. The network additionally averaged 115,000 A25-54 viewers in primetime for the week, more than CNN but No. 19 on all of basic cable and -18% from the week prior.

With no major breaking news events to cover, CNN saw a steep week-to-week audience decline. The network averaged 509,000 total viewers and 110,000 Adults 25-54 in primetime this past week, -26% and -35% respectively, from what the network averaged in those categories the previous week.  The 509,000 total primetime viewer average places CNN at No.  14 on all of basic cable for the week, and the 110,000 A25-54 primetime viewer average for the week is No. 22 on all of basic cable.

Graphics Courtesy of ROADMN (w/permission)

Fox News and CNN trended poorly relative to the year-ago week.  Fox News is -23% in total primetime viewers, -33% in the primetime demo, -22% in total day viewers and -31% in the total day demo vs. the week of Nov. 14, 2022. After a positive stretch, CNN is a whopping-42% in total primetime viewers, -46% in the primetime demo, -27% in total day viewers and -34% in the total day demo versus the year-ago week. MSNBC’s year-over-year trend, on the other hand, is more of a mixed bag. The network is -5% in total primetime viewers, -20% in the primetime demo, +2% in total day viewers but -10% in the total day demo versus the year-ago week.

MNF Football Scores With Eagles-Chiefs

ESPN’s presentation of the Super Bowl LVII rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs (November 21, 8:15 p.m. ET) is the most-watched Monday Night Football game in 27 years, drawing more than 29 million viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes and NFL+). 

The audience of 29,021,000 viewers is the television franchise’s best – and The Walt Disney Company’s best – since 1996 (Green Bayat Dallas, 31.5 million), spanning more than 450 games and the entire ESPN era of Monday Night Football.

Best of the Season and Most-Watched Telecast Since Super Bowl LVII

The Eagles-Chiefs is the most-watched telecast since the teams faced off in Super Bowl LVII (Feb. 12, 2023), making it the most-watched NFL game this season across all networks. Dating back to the 2022 regular season, Eagles-Chiefs is the most-watched NFL game in nearly a full calendar year (Thanksgiving 2022).

More on Eagles-Chiefs:Peak Audience: The audience peaked at 31.2 million viewers
Peyton and Eli: Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli generated an audience of 1.9 million, the franchise’s best in more than two years.

Monday Night Countdown: ESPN’s pregame show averaged 1.8 million viewers, MNC’s best audience of the season.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football with Multiple Viewership Records in 2023

With the record-breaking ESPN MNF audience, ESPN has now delivered its two most-watched Monday Night Football games ever during the 2023 season. The Week 11 viewership topped ESPN’s Week 1 audience of 22.6 million (Bills-Jets), which set a record at the time.

Taylor Swift Is Billboard’s Top Artist of 2023

Billboard's Top Artist for 2023

Taylor Swift triumphs atop Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Artists chart, following her domination across both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart this year.

Swift was previously the year-end top artist in 2015 and 2009, making her the first act to finish as the year-end No. 1 artist at least once in three different decades (the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s). Plus, she’s just the second act to be the year-end top artist three times, following Adele, in 2016, 2012 and 2011 (dating to the category’s 1981 inception).

Remarkably, she’s ranked among the Top Artists year-end top 10 in 14 of the last 16 years, including the last six in a row.

Further demonstrating Swift’s sustained success on Billboard’s charts, the 14-year span from her first win as top artist in 2009 to her third in 2023 is the longest of any act. Previously, Swift and Usher were tied with the longest span of year-end victories, with six years between Swift’s first and second coronations as Top Artists (2009-15) and Usher’s pair of wins (1998-2004).

During the 2023 chart year, Swift logged 13 albums on the weekly Billboard 200 chart, including two that spent time at No. 1: her 2022 release Midnights and her third re-recorded album, 2023’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). The former finishes as the No. 2 title on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums recap. Meanwhile, her 2019 release Lover is No. 9. The latter, along with her catalog of albums, flourished in 2023 concurrent with her massive career-spanning The Eras Tour concert trek. In total on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums roundup, Swift is at Nos. 2 (Midnights), 9 (Lover), 11 (Speak Now [Taylor’s Version]), 12 (Folklore), 16 (1989), 17 (Red [Taylor’s Version]), 21 (Reputation), 29 (Evermore), 43 (Fearless [Taylor’s Version]) and 115 (Speak Now). Swift is also the year’s top finisher on the Billboard 200 Artists roundup.

On the weekly Hot 100 chart, Swift logged 44 songs during the 2023 chart year. On the year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking, she’s at Nos. 4 (“Anti-Hero”), 18 (“Cruel Summer”), 27 (“Karma,” featuring Ice Spice) and 32 (“Lavender Haze”).

Swift is the overall top female artist for a seventh year.

Move Over Mariah, Brenda Lee Is Rockin'

 

Mariah Carey might not be the queen of the holiday charts after all, reports Axios.

The big picture: Carey's ubiquitous "All I Want for Christmas is You" is only the second most-played Christmas hit, according to Spotify, trailing Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

When "All I Want for Christmas is You" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2019, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" peaked at #2. Carey repeated the climb to #1 the next year, with Lee right behind her in second. Then it happened again in 2021. And 2022.

This Christmas might belong to Lee.

A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Lee was just 13 when she recorded the Christmas classic in 1958.

Now 78, she dances along in a new video released this year to celebrate the song's 65th anniversary.

Between the lines: Billboard's rankings involve multiple metrics, including radio plays and streaming data. The latest chart is led by Taylor Swift and doesn't include any Christmas songs. "Rockin' Around" currently sits at #7 on Spotify's daily list of the most-played songs in the U.S., ahead of "All I Want" at #12.

On Christmas Day for each of the last three years, on Spotify at least, more Americans have listened to Lee describing "everyone dancing merrily in the new old-fashioned way" than Carey declaring what she really wants for Christmas.

By the numbers: Carey held Spotify's top spot on Christmas in 2017, 2018 and 2019 — with "Rockin' Around" just behind — and also hit #1 for a few days in 2020. But "All I Want for Christmas" peaked at #2 in 2021 and #3 in 2022, according to data from Chartmetric.

Lee has now been #1 on Christmas in each of the past three years, holding down the top spot for two straight weeks in December, 2021 and four days last year.

Westwood One Providing Audio Of 6 NFL Games

CUMULUS MEDIA’s Westwood One, the largest audio network in the U.S., will present exclusive national audio play-by-play coverage of six NFL games over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, including Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Sunday night, and Monday night.

THANKSGIVING DAY, Thursday, November 23, willl feature a tripleheader beginning at 12 p.m. ET when the Green Bay Packers visit the Detroit Lions. Game two will feature the Washington Commanders against the Dallas Cowboys at 4:15 p.m. ET. The day will close when the San Francisco 49ers play the Seattle Seahawks beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

On Friday, November 24, Westwood One will broadcast the NFL’s first-ever BLACK FRIDAY game at 2:30 p.m. ET as the Miami Dolphins meet the New York Jets. Ian Eagle (play-by-play) and recently retired defensive backs and twin brothers Jason McCourty and Devin McCourty (analysts) will call the game for the network. This will be just the second time that twin brothers will have shared a three-man booth for a national NFL broadcast. (Ronde and Tiki Barber made history as the first twins to call a game together, in 2019 for FOX Sports.)

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL will feature the Baltimore Ravens taking on the LA Chargers, on November 26, with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Week 12 of the NFL season concludes with MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL at 7:30 p.m. on November 27 when the Chicago Bears meet the Minnesota Vikings.

WESTWOOD ONE’S THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

• Thursday, November 23 12 p.m. ET: Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions
• 4:15 p.m. ET: Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys
• 8 p.m. ET: San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks
• Friday, November 24 2:30 p.m. ET: Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets]
• Sunday, November 26 8:20 p.m. ET Baltimore Ravens vs. Los Angeles Chargers
• Monday, November 27 7:30 p.m. ET: Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings

Where to Listen

🎧Millions of passionate listeners and football fans will be able to hear Westwood One Sports’ NFL broadcasts this season on approximately 500 terrestrial radio stations nationwide, streamed on westwoodonesports.com and affiliated stations’ primary digital platforms outside of the Club’s immediate 100-mile proximity, and via the NFL App. Coverage will also be available on SiriusXM and NFL+.

For more information on Westwood One Sports’ NFL programming, contact Ryan Maguire at rmaguire@westwoodone.com or (212) 824-2994.

CentralPA Radio: WQXA Raises $350K+ For Miracle Network

(Left to Right): Nipsey, Vince and Jen Shade

Cumulus Media announces that 105.7 THE X/WQXA-FM has raised over $350,000 for Harrisburg-York-Lancaster area’s Children’s Miracle Network in its 17th Annual People’s Pay 4 Play Radiothon.

The 28-hour radiothon kicked off on Thursday, November 16th, at 6:00am and ran till 10:00am on Friday, November 17th, and exceeded its fundraising goal through the generosity of partners and listeners. Throughout the People’s Pay 4 Play Radiothon, listeners requested songs and depending on the song, they pledged from $25 to $500 a song – with many people pledging over $1,000.

105.7 THE X featured Children’s Miracle Network “miracle” children and their families on-air throughout the radiothon. In addition, every hour, the station highlighted a group or person that made standout donations to the cause, including one donor group that pledged $21,000 to help the children of Central Pennsylvania.

A very special highlight of the People’s Pay 4 Play Radiothon was the appearance of Brent Smith from Rock band Shinedown, who helped nine-year-old Children’s Miracle Network miracle child, Gannon Kupko, Jr. reach his goal of raising $10,000. Gannon, who listens to Shinedown’s single “Get Up” as he gets his ongoing radiation treatments, was surprised with a Zoom visit by Smith. While on the call, Smith told Gannon that Shinedown was donating not only $10,000 to add to the $1,000 that Gannon had already raised - but was also donating an additional $10,000 to Gannon and his family personally to make this Gannon’s best Christmas ever.

Chris James, Program Director, 105.7 THE X, said: “The 17th Annual People's Pay 4 Play was another HUGE success, raising over $350,000 for the local Children's Miracle Network. The People's Morning Show of Nipsey, Vince and Jen Shade are such great ambassadors not only for the station, but for the hospital and Central PA, as well. Their desire to push for that extra dollar to help the kids of Central PA is something to behold. They are truly amazing.”

James added: “The fact that Brent Smith from Shinedown was nice enough to help out Gannon Kupko, Jr. on his goal to raise $10,000 for Children’s Miracle Network was such an earth-shattering surprise. Not a dry eye in Central PA... Then to commit another $10,000 so Gannon can have the best Christmas ever was mind blowing. A true hero, as are all the kids and families of the Children's Miracle Network. Thanks to the team of folks and our generous listeners and partners who made this possible.”